Simon's Travel Log
by TheRealInuyasha
Summary: A normal boy gets sucked into the biggest adventure in the history of the universe. This is my newest and biggest idea ever. (Contains multiple spoliers for many series.)
1. Chapter 1

TRI: I'm back!

I know that it's been a while, but for once this had nothing to do with my computer…so that'ssomething. Some of you might get a little pissy that I'm

starting another new story, but I couldn't resist. It might not start out great but it will get that way.

Inner-Demon: Nobody cares you know.

TRI: Some will care! But that's not the point, I will update my other stories, but this particular story could span at least 100 chapters…potentially. My thanks

go to a recurring daydream that's been going strong for 12 years. So sit back and enjoy my newest, biggest and potentially best creation of my career.

P.S. A movie that I will be in may slow this down a bit, but it will still go pretty smoothly.

P.P.S. Don't get bent out of shape just because you only hear one side of the conversation.

Disclaimer: Seriously, is this necessary? If one of us owned any of these series we wouldn't be doing this.

In the year 1993, the child this story follows was born, but it began years before that miracle.

_In an undisclosed location_

"_I know that this is a trap, but it must be done for the sake of reality itself."_

"_I want to, but I can't afford to be selfish. Besides, I have a plan."_

"_Listen, I have to go now but don't worry, this won't be our last meeting, I promise."_

_In the present_

Simon Sarceno was walking home after a very exciting day at school, Thearte was fun as always, Psychology was enlightening, Government was slightly

boring, European History was cool, and Economics was an obsession. Plus one of his favorite songs was on at that moment.

But his normal life was blown to hell when he went to check his mail. Later he would wonder why he didn't go back inside the moment he saw the "meteor"

falling towards him. But he didn't go inside; he just ignored it and opened his mailbox. In fact, he didn't even react at all until it landed in his lawn. When he

went to examine it, he saw that it wasn't a meteor at all; it was some kind of spaceship (kind of like the Saiyan spaceships from DBZ). At that moment, a

hatch started opening and out walked two strange men.

One of them was a normal looking man, a little on the short side, but in some weird looking uniform. The other was Simon's height, which at 6'3 was pretty

tall, but unlike the first man he was in a hooded robe so Simon couldn't tell what he looked like. Then the first man started speaking, "Why did I have to

accompany you on this mission? You're perfectly capable of executing the target on your own."

The hooded man started talking then, and the strange part was that he was using a voice scrambler, "Because if you help out on this assignment, then you'll

be promoted. You won't be a grunt anymore. Now be quiet and help me look, he should live pretty close to our location."

"Yeah!...Now what's this guy's name again, I keep forgetting."

"This is why you haven't been promoted, now for the last time his name is Simon Sarceno."

TRI: Now wasn't that an interesting beginning.

Inner-Demon: No.

TRI: Shut it! I know it was kind of short, but the next chapter'll be longer. Now don't forget to review and let me know what you think. Ja ne!


	2. The Plot Thickens

TRI: I had originally meant to update my other stories first, but I couldn't get ideas for this one out of my head. So, for the people who have read the first

chapter, enjoy. For those of you who just now started reading, make sure you enjoy this too. And tell your friends about it so I won't feel that I'm doing this

only for myself. Oh, and one more thing….REVIEW! Please review, even if you just want to comment about the smallest thing. Now…time to read.

_In a undisclosed location: 4 years ago_

_Mysterious Person #1: Intel reports that he'll arrive here in 37 minutes._

_Mysterious Person #2: Perfect, he has no idea. After this our greatest obstacle will have been removed and we can continue with the master plan._

_#1: When will the others get here?_

_#2: Well, the new guy is the farthest away, and it'll take him 13 minutes to get here._

_#1: But we need at least 1 hour, and that's with the 9 of us._

_Mysterious Person #3: I'm here! Now we can get started now._

_#2: Not yet, the others aren't here yet._

_#1: what about-_

_#2: We'll just buy time with the captains. (In intercom) Intruder alert. Hold him off for at least 45 minutes._

_#3: Our peons are no match for him, but they should be able to stall him for a little bit._

_In the present _

Simon didn't understand. Why were these mysterious people after him, of all people! He may be one of the smartest people at school, but that hardly

warranted a death sentence. This line of thought would've continued for hours if the short guy hadn't interrupted him.

"Hey man, do you know where I might find one Simon Sarceno?"

Realizing that his best bet was to lie, he said, "No, I've never even heard of this person. I was just on my daily jog and took a wrong turn."

"Oh, okay…hold on, I've just remembered." He started looking through a weird looking bag. "The boss gave me a picture of the dude, maybe you've seen

him around."

He saw that now he had no choice. Sighing, he punched the man in the nose, then the gut and finished by smashing his ankle.

"Never really thought that I would find a time that my martial arts training would come in handy."

"Hah! That was a good combo there, but haven't you forgotten something."

Crap! He forgot about the tall man. Before he could figure out how to escape, the other one started getting up.

"H-how? You should be on the ground unconscious, or at the very least, unable to move."

"Hah! I'm made of tougher stuff then you."

Just as Simon started wondering if he might die after all, the tall man walked up behind his partner and knocked him out.

"Why would you-?"

"I think it would be more exciting to see what you do. Now if you excuse me, I'll be on my way."And with that, some kind of weird portal opened up behind

him.

"Wait, if you have a portal, then why crash land in my lawn?"

"Well, we were supposed to crash into the house, it's a much quicker way of killing, It get blamed on a stray meteor and there's no evidence, house and

body obliterated in the crash and then the spaceship implodes with no trace it ever existed. Now, just in case my bosses make sure your dead, I'll send you

to another world, somewhere where they can't find you so easily."

"What are you talking-?"

Before he could finish his sentence, he found himself swallowed be darkness, and when he awoke, he couldn't recognize his surroundings at all.

After a while of trying to clear his head, he heard voices coming towards him. One was a guy's voice and the other's was a girl's, and the strange thing was,

they sounded familiar.

"Hey, Kazuki, hurry up. Whatever this is, it could be dangerous and I might need your help with this." That was the girl's voice.

"Well, it's not my fault. You need to stop running, Tokiko."

At that moment, they came into sight, and then Simon fainted. The last thought in his head being:

"What are the characters from Buso Renkin doing here!"


	3. A Whole New World

(If you don't like the chapter title, blame Disney.)

TRI: Okay, I couldn't help myself. But after this I will update my other stories.

Inner-Demon: Can't be helped I guess. But there's a lot that can't be helped.

TRI: Yeah. Too bad one of the things that we actually agree on is a sad truth such as this. Anyway I would have updated before now, but I was playing

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelations and I was feeling kind of lazy.

TRI: Now that that's out of the way, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Buso Renkin. (It feels odd saying that after always talking about Inuyasha in the disclaimers.)

_In the same undisclosed location, 4 years ago_

_Mysterious Person #1: He just entered the base. Is everyone in position?_

_Mysterious Person #2: It's about time, the peons were getting restless._

_Mysterious Person #6: Are you sure they can buy us enough time?_

_#1: How many times have you doubted me?_

_#6: 30 times...I think._

_#1: And how many times have you been wrong?_

_#6:25 times. _

_#1: You should like those odds. Besides, if he starts moving too fast, one of us will go to stall him._

_Mysterious Person #9: I'll go._

_#1: Fine, but only if he gets to gets to the throne room before we're done._

_In the present_

When Simon woke up, the first thing he noticed was the fact that he was in a bed. Then he noticed a backpack with a letter addressed to him

taped to the front. After 5 minutes of trying to resist the urge to go back to sleep, which was a battle dating back to the 1st grade, he managed to fling the

covers off of him and stand up. Taking a closer look at the backpack, he saw that it was actually _his_ backpack, which raised even more questions. His brain

would have surely shut down due to the sheer amount of questions if not for the arrival of a couple familiar faces.

Captain Bravo burst in to the room tailed by Kazuki Moto and Tokiko Tsumura, along with Kazuki's sister, Mahiro. For a moment Simon

wondered why they were there, then he realized that, being the closest ones to him after he fainted, they had probably carried him to the dorms and then

contacted Captain Bravo considering that he was their gym teacher in addition to once being a high-ranking member of the now disbanded Alchemist

Warriors, not to mention being a close friend of Kazuki and Tokiko.

"We'll talk about it once he's awake. Now if you do-" Bravo stopped speaking when he saw that Simon was indeed awake.

"Bravo! Now that you're awake, we can start getting things done." He paused for a moment, obviously confused as to why the previously

unconscious teenager was awake. "…Ah, but where are my manners, I'm-"

It was Simon's turn to talk, "I know who you are. In fact, I would say that I know you better than some of your own friends know you. And by

the way, my name is Simon Sarceno, nice to meet you."

Tokiko looked confused, "Well, that creepiness aside, I would like to know why you're here. I think I speak for Kazuki and Mahiro when I say

that when odd things happen, we usually get caught up in the thick of it, and I personally would like to know what I'm getting into."

Even though Simon was about to answer her and Kazuki looked like he disagreed with what Tokiko had said, it was Bravo who spoke first.

"I believe that I can answer that. You see, I got a call a week ago that pretty soon, an uninvited guest would show up near school grounds, and

I was told it was, quote, "absolutely imperative that I find him first". He also said that I should have some kukugane in reserve just in case."

This time it was Kazuki who spoke, "But, Bravo, why would we need to have our kukugane? We've made our peace with the homunculi, and

besides the only one who's close enough to attack us is Koshaku, and there's no reason for him to do that."

"That is true, but I was also told that an army of homunculi would most likely be dispatched to find and kill Simon."

"So, what am I supposed to do, lay here and hope I'll be safe while you do whatever?"

"No, the very least who could do is fight with us. And since you probably don't know how to fight, I'll just have to teach you. Now then, look in

the backpack, it _was _packed especially for you."

TRI: And now I can finally get back to my other stories. Anyway now that my personas are under control, things shouldn't be as hectic as they were.

Inner-Demon: This doesn't mean I won't try to tease you.

TRI: Well good, it helps make my life less boring. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter, and as always:

R&R

(The document editer on this site won't let me indent, can someone help me?)


	4. Training Montage

TRI: I told you I would update again. Unlike with my other chapters, I won't have much to tell you. I mean, nothing huge is going to happen in the span of 1 or 2 days.

Disclaimer: I do not own Buso Renkin.

_same location, same time_

_Mysterious Person #2: With his pace, you will have to go fight him. He's already taken out most of our troops._

_Mysterious Person #1: It matters not, he never kills anyone. He's certainly stupid sometimes._

_Mysterious Person #9: So, how long before its ready?_

_#1: Even with you gone it'll take us 10 minutes. Now remember, if he's early then we're screwed._

_#9: Whatever. I can hold him off for twice that time._

_#: Don't fail us. Remember what's at stake._

_the present_

The next couple weeks were some of the busiest of Simon's life. Right after he had checked his backpack, which had his ramen stash, his new laptop, some clothes, and his MP3 in it, he was dragged outside for his training.

Training was all well and good, but he needed to awaken his "fighting spirit", And to do that, Simon would need some actual combat. Captain Bravo or Kazuki could fight him, but his training would progress much quicker if he battled someone that not only wouldn't hesitate to kill him, but would actively try to kill him. For this, they had to recruit Koshaku Chouno.

But that wasn't enough; they had to come up with a strategy. It wasn't like they were battling a few homunculi; they were battling an entire army. No matter how good Kazuki or Tokiko or Captain Bravo was, the homunculi's superior numbers would eventually overwhelm them.

But that was Bravo's job; Simon had to first learn how to use a Buso Renkin. The first thing that Kazuki and Tokiko had him do was to get used to his Buso Renkin. Simon was not at all surprised when his Buso Renkin turned out to be a sword, but he was surprised when he found out that it could divide into smaller swords and knives.

What happened was that, right after Simon had taken a few practice swings, Kazuki attacked him with his Sunlight Heart. Simon knew enough to block Kazuki's weapon, but that's all he was able to do. After a few minutes of blocking Kazuki's attacks, Kazuki feinted and Simon fell for it. Luckily he had managed to block at the last second. But Simon was tired from the sparring, plus he hadn't managed to block the Sunlight Heart very well. Seeing this, Kazuki decided to press his advantage. He had managed to drive the sword back to where it was resting against Simon's flesh, but before he could finalize his victory, the sword was engulfed in a piercing white light. Kazuki quickly turned his head away, but the light had partially blinded him. After he could see again, he looked back at Simon, but there was no 2 ft sword in his hands. Instead, Simon was holding a slightly shorter katana in one hand and a tanto in the other.

After seeing his new weapons, Simon's face broke out into a grin.

"This is perfect. I practiced this style of swordplay with my lightsabers. Even though my lightsabers were lighter than this, but they _were_ made of plastic."

"What are lightsabers, Simon?"

"That's not important. Just know that I won't be as easy to beat as I was just a minute ago."

"Sounds fun. Just try not to lose too quickly."

"You're on."

True to his word, Simon certainly did do better. Getting a second wind, and some confidence, Simon managed to almost hold his own against Kazuki. But after 30 minutes, his second wind died down. He might've done better if he wasn't already tired or if he was used to the weight of metal, but that wasn't the case. Instead Kazuki got under his guard and wacked him with the side of his Sunlight Heart. Simon fell to the ground, unconscious.

_The next day_

Simon woke up around 12 P. M. the next day and felt fully rested, despite the beating he had received. After stretching for a few minutes, Simon decided that he should get some food, namely ramen. After making some Oriental for lunch, he sat down to eat. But before he could, Bravo walked in.

"How do you feel, Simon?"

"Just fine, a few more days and should be able to make Kazuki fight seriously."

"You're confident. That's good, just don't get too confident. I have a letter from Kazuki for you." Clearing his throat, he said:

"Koshaku has agreed to fight you, but he is strong so make sure you're ready."

Two hours later, he fought Koshaku, but he didn't even stand a chance. After finding out how strong homunculi really were, Simon then devoted almost every second of every day for the next 2 weeks to getting stronger.

_two weeks later_

Simon had just challenged Koshaku again and finally managed to wound him.

"So, what do you think? Will I be powerful enough to hold my own against the homunculi army?"

Suddenly Kazuki, who was standing nearby so Koshaku didn't go to far and kill Simon said, "You better be ready. Bravo says that they here now."

TRI: What a place to end, eh? Hope you enjoyed it, and try to tell people about this story. I only have 33 hits to this story. I know why, but "What a Shame".

R&R


	5. The Army Aproaches

TRI: Well, the fight with the homunculi is finally here, other than practice fights and slight skirmishes in my other fanfics, this is my first action scene. Keeping that in mind, I will try to make it as awesome as it is in my mind. That probably won't happen, so if one of you sees something I could improve on, please tell me so my writing can improve. There will be a lot more fight scenes in this story, so please help me do them justice. (Also, I meant to update last weekend, but my A/C was busted and I couldn't get it fixed until last Thursday.)

Half-Demon: Even I'm helping him, so you help him too.

TRI: Anyway, the story is about to begin. If you need to go to the bathroom, do it now. And turn of your cell phones, we don't interrupt your conversations, so please refrain from interrupting ours. Try not to spill food on the keyboard, and enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Buso Renkin, but I now own a kukugane. (read last chapter)

_Same place from last flashback, a little after the last flashback_

_As the mysterious people were getting ready, the reason for their preparation was right outside their base. After easily busting in their heavily-reinforced metal door, the alarm started to screech in his ear, causing hundreds of heavily armed guards to seemingly materialize right in front of him; about a hundred more came in a second later to block his retreat. But it wouldn't have mattered if there were a thousand guards. With one little hand gesture, he sent all of them flying. The ones behind him were lucky, they just hit the concrete; the ones blocking his way flew into the metal walls, and in some cases, through. Showing no emotion, he strode towards the door leading to the main hall. His destination was just beyond there, the not-so-secret room that was beneath the throne room. The main hall was suspiciously empty; he knew that there were at least 10,000 guards in the base at any one time. The throne room, on the other hand, contained a single enemy._

"_Welcome, we have been expecting you."_

"_So, you're the replacement, are you?"_

"_Yeah, so?"_

"_Sorry, but you have to be killed."_

"_Just try it. I'll crush you."_

_And with that statement, the battle began._

_In the present_

Simon had gone up to the rooftop just minutes before so he could clear his head before the battle. What he didn't go up there to do is be rendered speechless; he knew that there was a homunculi army coming to get him, but he was unprepared for the number. The army looked to be about 20,000 strong.

He knew that the training had made him stronger, and he also knew that Bravo, Tokiko, Kazuki, and Koshaku would be helping; but he was starting to doubt his survival chances.

As he was beginning to panic, Bravo, Kazuki, Koshaku, and Tokiko came up behind him and said his name. Simon turned around and saw about 20 people that he didn't know standing behind Bravo.

"Simon, I know that it doesn't look like a lot, but I've managed to convince some of my old comrades to help us fight. Also I've drafted some of the homunculi that gave us a good fight during the Victor crisis."

"Will that really be enough? I'm starting to think that I should've just let myself be killed, there's just no way that we can win against so many enemies."

"Don't worry, we're professionals. We won't lose that easily."

All of a sudden, a trumpet sounded, and a human came out of the crowd of homunculi and started speaking.

"You have no chance of survival, Simon Sarceno, and fighting would be pointless. Come down now and, at the very least, your protectors won't be killed."

Simon was actually considering the offer, but then he turned to look at Bravo. Not only him, but so many others were prepared to fight and die for his sake, including complete strangers!

And they might torture him to find out how he avoided them the first time. No matter his assertion that he wouldn't give in to torture, who's to say that he wouldn't let slip about the guy that had helped him. They would most likely kill him for his traitorous deed, and Simon couldn't let that happen.

Steeling himself for the consequences, he yelled:

"Go to hell!"

"You've decided to defy us, then. So be it." He raised his right hand, which was holding a sword, and yelled: "Attack!"

The homunculi charged towards the building while Bravo and the others readied themselves. With a load cry, Bravo and the other Alchemist Warriors charged down the stairs and started fighting. At the same time, the homunculi came out of nowhere and joined the fight.

Koshaku was now the only one still on the rooftop with Simon.

"Few humans have ever managed to wound me, so if you get killed, I'll look bad."

And with that, Koshaku activated his kukugane and started, literally, dive-bombing the homunculi army.

Realizing that the safest place to be right now, ironically, was to be fighting alongside the others, Simon rushed down the stairs and joined the fight.

At first, the enemy seemed to be winning; but then they started dropping at an alarming rate; Tokiko's Valkyrie Skirt managed to gore 10 in only 1 second!

After seeing this, Simon activated his Buso Renkin and started slashing at every enemy he could find. He didn't even have to worry about hurting allies; he knew exactly what all of the allied homunculi looked like thanks to the manga.

After about 30 minutes, he started to wear out a bit. If it was only one enemy he was fighting against, it would be different; but there were hundreds that he had fought. In fact, just a minute ago, he had almost been decapitated; if not for a nearby homunculi, he would be dead.

For a moment, a path cleared in front of him and he saw a glowing blue crystal, then the path closed.

Simon got a strange feeling that that glowing crystal was very important, so he made a beeline straight for it. The homunculi were nothing before this newfound obsession, but all of a sudden a human stepped out and started attacking him.

He slashed down, but Simon dodged, or at least he would've, but homunculi jumped towards him and he had to slash its head off. The enemy's slash still missed its mark; instead of getting his heart, it cut his arm.

The sight of his own blood seemed to focus Simon; he slashed his sword again and again and even though the strange person was able to block most of them the last one managed to get him off balance. Simon slashed one more time, and knocked the sword out of his opponent's hand.

As he raised his sword for a killing blow, the stranger started laughing silently.

"It's good to see that you prepared, Simon."

Simon was shocked, he knew that voice. And sure enough, it was the traitor that had helped him escape in the first place.

"What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious, I had to make sure you survived. And you're doing so quite well, I see."

He then noticed Simon trying to grab the crystal that he had become so fixated on.

"Ah, that. That's actually the only reason we can stay here. See, we don't belong in this world, but you do, kind of. The bond that you created with this world when you read the manga was enough to let you stay here for a few days, but the bond that you now have with its denizens was enough to secure you a place here forever."

"So you're saying that without this crystal, you would have to leave?"

"Well, more like sucked out through a wormhole, but yeah."

"So what's stopping me from staying here once I destroy the stone?"

"You are, and the fact that Earth, or the one you know, will be taken over. Now, since we both know that you won't allow that, you'll need to say good-bye to your new friends. But first, take hold of the crystal."

Simon did so, and the moment he did it dissolved. Or rather, it became little fragments that then dissolved.

"So, Simon, how do you feel?"

"Stronger."

"Perfect, so now I know that I'm on the right track."

"What-"

"I'll explain later, I have to go. I can stay because I know you, but if I do, then I'll get busted by the boss and be executed. Good-bye."

And both he and the rest of the army disappeared though a gigantic black hole, which was fortunate because many of the allied forces were badly injured and five were dead.

Simon, on the other hand, had only minor wounds, but collapsed almost immediately.

As Bravo and Kazuki carried him to his bed, Simon dreamt that a faceless man was sitting in a king's chair. He saw another man come up and start relaying the events of the battle. He saw how the man looked slightly pleased, and then started becoming angrier and angrier until he finally cut off the messenger's head.

He would've seen more, but then he started to dream that he was at home, watching TV while eating ramen.

TRI: That was longer than usual, was it not?

Well, I feel much better now. Please tell me what you think about the fighting, I'm not sure I did it justice. If I didn't, use your imagination; imagination made this and so many other things in this world.

R&R


	6. To the Next World

TRI: Ugh…It's been a while, huh?

Well, it's still nothing compared to my 2- year long hiatus.

Inner-Demon: It's about time. I've been dying to insult you.

TRI: But you do that every day.

Inner-Demon: I meant that I wanted to insult you in front of other people.

TRI: It's not going to have any effect on me.

Inner-Demon: I know; I just want to. Is that so bad?

TRI: Since it's you we're talking about…Yes.

Inner-Demon: You're just a big…meanie!

TRI: W-what? That isn't like you at all.

Inner-Demon: Hah! I can't believe you fell for that! Did you actually believe that I had turned into one of those sniveling pansies?

Damn! And here I was, thinking that you were kind of smart.

TRI: (Crap, He actually got me) Whatever, let's just start this thing.

Inner-Demon: Why are you even writing this? Almost nobody reads this story.

TRI: Read this as I explain why I update this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Buso Renkin, nor do I own One Piece.

_After the fight_

"_He put up a good fight, even though he must have known that he would lose." He said as his opponent fell to the floor. _

_Normally, he would hold back a little so that he could conserve his energy for battles against stronger opponents. But he wasn't really in the mood for mercy, and it was good that he hadn't held back. About halfway through the fight, he had been cut on his arm while trying to stop a slash at his chest. It was a tiny wound, but the fact that it had happened had driven him into a berserker rage, so his opponent had ended up looking like he had ran into a brick wall, been cut by thousands of tiny shards of glass, been shot up a few times, and then had a sword stabbed straight through his heart (That part _had_ happened.) It was messy, but even without holding back, the fight still had lasted for a good 4 minutes._

'And that was the newest and the weakest of the 9, if my information network is to be trusted.'

_With that done, he strode over to the chair that hid the not-so-secret passageway that led to his enemies' "war room"._

_The passageway, as he remembered from the last he was there, was laden with traps. But, for some reason or other, they had been disabled. They wouldn't even have slowed him down anyway, so he barely noticed their absence. But he did notice that the door at the end of the passageway was open, which had never happened before._

_Ignoring the feeling that he was walking into a trap, he stepped through the doorway into the room beyond._

"_Welcome, we've been expecting you."_

_In the present_

Simon woke up in his bed. Well, it wasn't actually _his_ bed, but it was the bed he had been using since he came here. Instead of getting up, though, he went back to sleep.

_About 30 minutes later_

"Hey, Simon! You awake yet?" Kazuki said as he walked into the room, followed by Tokiko.

"With a groan, he sat up and said, "Now I am."

"Man, that fight must've really worn you out. You collapsed right after the fight; Bravo and I had to carry you back here."

Getting out of bed, Simon asked, "How long was I out?"

"It's been almost 4 days."

'4 days? Damn, I shouldn't have been that tired. Wait, I should feel hungrier if I've been out for that long.'

As if in response to that thought, his stomach started rumbling as if he hadn't eaten for a week. 'Which was close enough to the truth,' he thought.

"Would you like some bacon and eggs with a side of toast for breakfast?"

"Yes, I would. Also, a banana or two wouldn't hurt."

_After breakfast_

Now that Simon had all his things, and they were awake, Bravo asked, "So, what are you going to do now?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. I can't stay here, much as I'd like to. But I don't know where to go."

"I can help you there." As Simon turned to see who had spoken, he saw the same guy that had saved him from a premature death when he was still in Rowlett, and who had fought him during the fight with the homunculi army.

"So, it's you again? What do you mean you can help me?"

"You might want to say bye to your newly made friends. Hey you," he said, directing the words to Bravo, "accept my condolences for of the people who died in the battle."

"It's okay; they knew what they were getting into." Bravo replied. "Hey Simon," he whispered, "who is this?"

"It's okay, he's a friend. He saved my life earlier,"

"I can't give you my name, but just call me Mister X."

"Seriously?" Simon scoffed. "Even I could've come up with a better name for you."

"Tell me, then. What name would you have me known as?"

"Hmm…I'd call you…Zack."

"That's not a cool sounding name…"

"It's better than Mister X! We can find you a better one later; but we're getting off topic. Why are you here?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to take you to the next world."

"Can you not say it like that? It sounds like you're taking me to the netherworld."

"Fine then. Just say goodbye so we can move on."

Turning to Kazuki, Tokiko, Bravo, and Koshaku, he said: "Well guys, I guess this is goodbye. It was fun. Say bye to Mahiro for me, Kazuko. And tell the Alchemic Warriors and the homunculi thanks for the help."

As he turned to go, Tokiko threw something to him. He went to catch it, but it bounced off of his pinkie and fell to the ground. Or it would have if Zack (?) hadn't caught it at the last second.

"Bring that with you. That kukugane is going to be a lot more useful with you than it'll be here. Besides, we weren't using it."

"Yeah, it was going to be destroyed, wasn't it?" Simon asked.

"We were about to, but we decided to put a hold to that when you…Hey! How do you know so much about this stuff?"

Simon whispered to Zack, "You think they should know that they're manga characters in my world?"

"They'd be better off not knowing, in my opinion."

"Sorry Tokiko," Simon said, "trade secret."

Zack straightened and rubbed his hands together. "Well, that was interesting, but we must be going. Simon? If you would come over here…"

Without waiting for Simon, Zack started to chant, "I invoke thee, Portal of Teleportation!

"Uh…Zack, do you have to do that?"

"No, but don't tell me you've never thought of doing something like that."

"No, I haven't."

"Liar." He said as he pushed Simon through the 8 foot wide circle of a portal that had just appeared just seconds before. Zack then jumped into the blackness of the portal, saying "Bye." as he did so.

With that, the portal closed, leaving 3 stunned looking humans and 1 bored-looking homunculi behind.

_Later, after a nauseating trip through time and space_

Simon was thrown out of the portal, on to some soft grass. Zack strode out of the same portal just moments later.

"Don't hold back, that kind of trip always takes getting used to."

"No, I'm fine. I'm fi-" Simon had to turn around to throw up into the ocean.

Wait, the ocean?

Looking around, he saw that he had been deposited only centimeters away from the edge of a cliff overlooking the shore. He couldn't help but be awestruck. He had never seen the sea before; it was beautiful! He was so engrossed with looking at the sparkling, pure blue water that he almost missed seeing the small town that stood about a mile away.

"I wonder where we are? I can think of a few possibilities, but I can't be sure."

"Well, Simon, maybe this'll answer your question." Zack pulled, from who-knows-where, the weirdest looking fruit he had ever seen. He didn't even know how to describe it; it was just…odd, with curly line looking things all over it.

"I don't know…"

"Then allow me. This is…a devil fruit!" Zack exclaimed.

"What? This is the world of One Piece?"

"Yep."

"Wait, when did you get that?"

"I've had it for awhile. I've been saving it for you."

"I bet you don't even know what it does."

"Actually I do. It's a "Copy Copy" fruit."

"But…that's Bon Clay's!"

"Ah yes, the appearance stealer…This one is different, this fruit lets you copy a persons abilities."

"How-?"

"I've done my research. You just need to know that this could prove very useful in keeping you alive."

'I wonder…Would I also be able to copy a person's ability to swim?' Simon thought. 'Could I negate the only negative effect of the cursed fruit? Damn…I can't not take this opportunity even if it means I can't ever swim again.' And with that decided, he ate the fruit.

"Okay then, since you decided to eat the fruit, you should know that I went farther into the past than you needed."

"Why?"

"Well, since events won't let us do it later on, I teleported us near where Ace is staying."

"You mean Luffy's brother?"

"Yeah. I thought that fire would be a good power to have for any future fights."

"I can think of others we should drop by as well." Simon smirked. "Let's get moving then!"

As he and Zack walked toward the town, he felt that there was no way he could lose now.

Too bad he forgot a quote he had come up with, "Never underestimate your enemy, or you won't live to make that mistake again."

TRI: Oh my god! I am sooooooooo tired, but I needed to get that done.

Inner-Demon: Even I'm feeling exhausted…And I didn't even do anything.

TRI: My only regret is not doing this earlier.

Inner-Demon: And nobody's even reviewed this story.

TRI: Don't remind me. Please review, I beg you!

Inner-Demon: C'mon now. You don't need to grovel for those…humans.

TRI: (starts crying) Please review! Just one review will do! Please!

Inner-Demon: (Starts shaking TRI) C'mon man. Don't do this. You're going to make both of us look bad.

TRI: Hey, guess what?

Inner-Demon: What?

TRI: Sike! That's payback for earlier. (Stabs Inner-Demon in the leg) That's much better.

Inner-Demon: You got me…Now excuse me while I bleed out.

TRI: But seriously, even one review would be nice.

R&R

Ja!


	7. Meeting Ace and Testing Powers

TRI: It's been too long. First I get hit by a very bad case of writer's block, and then my brain only wants to come up with ideas for chapters that are at least 5 chapters ahead of where I am. I've written 20 chapters for this story alone, all at least 6 chapters down the line.

Well, let's do it.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

**START CHAPTER**

_Same place, a couple minutes later_

_He woke up strapped to what looked like a hospital gurney._

"_I had hoped that the newbie could have held you back for a few more minutes, but he did well enough." A person above his head commented._

_Even though he couldn't look up since his head was strapped down, he recognized the voice as belonging to the leader of the mysterious group he had been fighting for the last four years._

"_You killed him, I see." Said the leader. "Oh well, he knew the risks when he joined up. After we finish up here, we're going to have to look for his replacement. We should be able to find somebody at least close to him in strength. If we had sent one of the others out, we would be hard pressed to find somebody who was one-seventh as strong as the one you would have killed. _

"_I should have killed _you_ when I had the chance!" the restrained hero snarled._

"_It's too bad that whole "evil clone" thing was a disaster." Said somebody else, ignoring the outburst._

"_The past is the past," the leader started, "what matters now is taking care of this…problem." He gestured towards the gurney and his immobile prisoner._

"_Once the spell's magic takes effect in a minute, we'll be free to take over this pathetic world! Of course, that's only the beginning!" One of them gloated._

"_Idiot!" Another one of them hissed. "Save your celebration until after he's been taken care of."_

"_This will be a momentous day." Their leader said. "Let him enjoy himself._

_And now…you have been an enormous pain in my side for far too long. But now it's time to say goodbye." _

_And with that, the spell began its sinister work._

_present day_

Simon and Zack had been walking for about 5 minutes when Simon spoke up.

"I was wondering…Why are you helping me? I mean, you're not just helping me, but you're also risking the wrath of your boss."

"…" Was all the answer he got.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I'm just curious."

"…Let's just say it's a favor for an old friend and leave at that." Zack replied.

"Okay, I guess that's good enough." Simon thought for a moment, and then stopped. "Oh crap!"

"What?"

"My family…What if those people go after them? My mom and sister aren't exactly fighters."

"Already taken care of. I've convinced them to move to Canada."

"Why Canada?" Simon asked.

"Remember, your mom always talked about moving there."

"Wait, how do you know about that?"

"I've been observing and protecting your family since you were born."

"You have, have you? Well then, do you remember the type of bed I slept in when I was three?"

"Do you?" Zack countered.

"Don't insult my memory. Now answer me." Simon scoffed.

"Fine then…You had a red racecar bed."

"Correct, though I like the bed I have now the best."

"I know, it's very comfortable and it's the perfect size for you." Zack remarked casually.

"How-? Have you been napping in my bed while I went off to school?"

"Not quite. Since your family wouldn't have much use for your things with you gone, they likely would've sold them. So I just "borrowed" most of your things from your room."

"Like what?"

"They'll receive a good deal of money from the insurance. This way they get some money and you keep you things." Zack went on, ignoring Simon.

"Like what?" Simon asked again.

"Your bed, as I just said. Also, your video game stuff, your books, some of your cooler clothes, and those coins your "Nanny" gave you. Oh, and that flash drive you have. I'm very impressed by how many manga series you read…That's right, I also took your Yu-Gi-Oh cards. I put them in your backpack, which you forgot to bring. " Zack reached into a mini space-time portal like the one Simon had just been pushed through, grabbed something, and tossed a backpack to Simon. "You're lucky I'm here to help you. Otherwise you wouldn't have anything except the clothes on your back and your kukugane."

"Actually I'd just be dead, wouldn't I?" Simon pulled out his deck and checked to make sure they were all there.

Zack let out a small chuckle. "I suppose so."

They continued walking towards the small town in silence, which was only broken when Simon described the effects of a particular Yu-Gi-Oh card and his strategy concerning it.

_10 minutes later_

As the duo entered the town, which looked decidedly less impressive than any other town he had seen, they noticed a tavern. (or bar, or pub, or whatever you call it in your town) They entered and made a beeline for the bartender because, they were thinking, that bartenders tend to pick up a lot of information from their drunken patrons.

"Excuse me-" Simon started

"Simon," Zack said. "let me do the talking."

Zack started talking to the bartender while Simon sat at the nearest table and started humming.

"That's a good sounding song. I've never heard that one before." Somebody behind him said. "And you look pretty tough too. How'd you like to join my crew?"

Simon looked up and saw, to his almost nonexistent surprise since he had watched the anime version as well as read the manga, that the one who had spoken was Portgaz D. Ace, or Trace in the anime. He refused to acknowledge that version of his name though. Really, is anybody named Trace? Simon knew that some characters in other series had weird names, but Trace? C'mon, at least when Laharl renamed Vyers Mid boss, it was for comedic value. That moment just never seems to get old. Soul Nomad & the World Eaters was a good game, too. Excellent cast as we-

Simon mentally slapped himself. Now was not the time to let his mind wander!

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm not sure if I can accept."

"Well, you can think it over at my ship." Ace looked at the three burly men behind him, whom Simon had just noticed, (he needed to work on that later) and they picked him up and started running with Ace in the lead.

Zack had been so preoccupied that he originally didn't notice the pirates, but once Simon was taken from the tavern, Zack ran after them.

"Be back in a bit, Zack!" Simon yelled, not seeming to mind that he was being kidnapped.

_later_

As the group approached the ship, Simon jumped out of the hold he was in, activated his kukugane, and slammed the hilt of the swords hard on the heads of two of Ace's pirates. The third one drew a flail, but it didn't help. Even though the man managed to knock away Simon's tanto, Simon took the flail from his unfortunate opponent and knocked him out with his own weapon.

"Not bad." Simon mused, before retrieving his tanto and walking up to Ace, who had just stood and watched as three of his men were defeated.

"Don't try to attack me, please." Simon said. "I just want to talk to you."

"So…You won't join my crew, I take it?"

Simon smiled. "Not quite, I don't have any plans to become a pirate."

"You're not with the marines, are you?"

"Again, no. Just let me try something." Simon dropped his katana and reached out his hand to touch Ace's shoulder.

The moment he did, he could feel the power that the devil fruit had given to Ace. Simon envisioned that power coming into his body, and as he did so, he could feel himself get slightly more powerful.

"I'll most likely have to train to master this power. Stupid Rando; if he had spent more time learning about his techniques, he wouldn't have been defeated." Simon caused a small flame to flicker into life in the palm of his hand. "At least it's not too time consuming, copying somebody's abilities." Simon remembered Ace, who looked shocked that there were now two people who could use the power of the Flame-Flame fruit.

"Make sure you can still use your powers, Ace." Simon said.

"Who are you and who is Rando?"

"My names is Simon, and who cares about Rando. Anyway, just make sure you can still use your powers."

Ace nodded and caused his entire right arm to be engulfed in fire.

Simon walked over to one of the men he had just knocked unconscious, who was just waking up.

"Can you swim?"

"'Course. Every pirate knows how to swim. 'Cept those that ate a devil fruit, like the captain there." He replied.

"And like me." With that, Simon put his hand on the man's bald head and concentrated on finding the man's ability to swim.

At that moment, Zack caught up to them.

"Simon! Are you okay?" He yelled.

"Oh Zack, you're here. Better late than never, I suppose." Simon started walking towards a nearby cliff. "If I'm not back in the next couple of minutes, come after me!"

And then Simon started running and jumped into the water.

**END CHAPTER**

TRI: Whew…I feel so much better now that that's written.

R&R (somebody…)


	8. Another World Already?

TRI: I know it's been a while since I updated. Far too long…I was held up by life, then writer's block, then life again. And if that were not bad enough, my computer crashed as I was close to completing one of my other story's chapters a few weeks ago. Since I only seem to remember half of what I had written, I will be working on this almost unknown story while I-

_In the end as you fade into the night_

_Who will tell the story of your life?_

_And who will remember your last goodbye?_

'_Cause it's the end and_-

J.: Why are you singing? I thought you were going to write your fanfiction.

TRI: Oh yes…As I was saying, I will work on this story until I can remember how the rest of that chapter was done.

J.: About time you call me something other than "?" even if it _is_ only one letter.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Demon Diary.

**CHAPTER START**

For a split second after he had jumped, Simon wondered if he had made a mistake. There was no telling if his hunch was correct; and if it was, a couple of minutes might see him so far down beneath the waves that Zack would not be able to rescue him.

He could've slapped himself; he did not usually let his fear get the better of him. There was a reason some of his friends called him "the man without fear". (He didn't want to increase his similarity to Johnny Blaze, though.) _'No point worrying,'_ He thought dryly, _'it's too late to do anything about it. _

But as he entered the water, his fear left him. He didn't know how water felt to devil fruit users usually; or maybe it was mentioned in the series and he had forgotten. But the water felt much the same as usual; the difference that was there must've been because of the lack of chlorine.

He tried swimming and actually found it _easier_ then it ever had. He wondered on that for a moment, and then all thought was lost as he concentrated on reaching the small spire of rock that stood slightly off the coast.

When he reached the spire, he waved to where he could see Zack standing and saw Zack beckon him back in return. Sighing, it would've been nice to swim a little longer, he swam back to the shore.

"What were you thinking?!" Zack demanded. "What if you had drowned?"

"That's precisely why I told you to come after me." Simon said, thinking that Zack should've already figured that out. "But it doesn't matter now. My theory was right."

"What theory?"

"The devil fruit you gave me can copy a person's ability, right?" Zack nodded. "Then it wouldn't be limited to only copying other devil fruit powers."

"But there was no proof that would be the case!" He protested.

"That's why it was only a theory. And a theory must be tested." Simon said absentmindedly.

"Fine, whatever; let's go."

"Go? Why?" Simon asked.

"Because I said s-"

"Don't give me that crap!" Simon interrupted. "Give me an actual reason."

Sighing, Zack said, "In the years that they knew of you, one thing The Syndicate of Nine concentrated on was figuring out how to locate you through your energy signature. That way they could find you if you had managed to escape them."

"But then why'd it take so long for them to send people after me? And I don't mean just last time; I mean both times."

"The first time was because of a seal that was put on them some years ago. And-"

"Does that involve your "old friend" Zack?" Simon interrupted.

Shooting him a look, Zack said, "Perhaps, I didn't actually _see _the shield being placed, so it could've been anyone for all I know. As I was saying, the second time was because that something of the nature of these worlds confuses their devices.

They do manage to..." Zack paused, looking for the right word. "Calibrate their devices after enough time, but each world's…frequency, if you want to call it that, is slightly different that another's; because of this, you'll always have a little time when you enter a new world, but it'll be anywhere between a few days to maybe a couple months."

"That's nice to know, but that doesn't quite answer my question, Zack."

"Sorry," he laughed. "We're leaving because the thing we're here for isn't here yet."

Simon, brushing away the thought that Zack was being deliberately confusing, asked, "Why are they called "The Syndicate of the Nine"? Does that mean there are nine people who command the others? And why hasn't one of them come after me?" He also wanted to know what kind of person Zack's friend was, but he held himself back.

"That isn't their official name; I just thought it was better to call them that than "The people that are devoting almost all of their energy to hunting you down". And yes, they have nine of their number giving orders to the rest of them. One is the leader of them all, and the other eight are in charge of individual departments. As to why you haven't encountered them yet, the shield prevents them from killing you themselves. For now at least…" Zack whispered that last part.

"So you're leaving then?" Asked Ace; Simon had almost forgotten he was there.

Nodding, Zack summoned a portal.

"Good luck to you on your quest, then." Ace said, waving at the two.

Waving back at Ace, Simon asked, "No pointless incantation then, eh Zack?" Grunting, Zack pushed Simon's backpack into his hands, gripped Simon's arm, and walked into the portal.

A short eternity later, or at least it felt that way, they walked out of the other side of the portal into a forest.

"So…Now where?" Simon asked.

Zack looked around for a moment, and then pointed to the right. "That way, it shouldn't be too far away."

_20 minutes later_

As Simon finished listening to "Nowhere Man" by The Beatles, something occurred to him.

"Hey Zack, could you teach me how to create one of those portal things?"

Zack looked slightly puzzled. "I could, but why do you want to know?"

"If you're summoned by The Syndicate, you won't be able to refuse them. And if you are, I don't want to be stranded in whatever world we happen to be at the time. From what you've told me, the longer we stay in one place, the greater the chance that I'll be located; and I'd rather not give them too much of a chance to kill me."

"Good point; I should've thought of that earlier." A look came over his face that might've been guilt. "We'll start when we break for camp. It might be hard for you to learn, but you're right; you should know how to summon a portal."

They walked in silence for another 6 minutes before Zack said, "I don't see how you figured out you could copy somebody's ability to swim just from knowing you could copy devil fruit powers."

"I just thought of it, it's not like I saw a connection between the two that you couldn't. Well maybe I did, somewhere in the back of my mind, but it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter either, really, if you know how I came to that conclusion. In fact, it doesn't matter if nobody understands it."

"Wha-"

"What does it matter if I know how I think of something, all it matters is that I did think of it. Maybe that'd be a bad explanation if this was a story, but this isn't a story; it's reality. And even though I'd kind of prefer it to be a story, because the good guys always win in the end in a story, except in horror stories, that doesn't make it so.

Also if this was a story, I probably wouldn't have thought of learning how to make a portal yet. The author would've probably let it occur to me a few chapters further in, maybe after you _had _been summoned by The Syndicate. But even though the events occurring to me seem like it belongs in a story, it doesn't change the fact that what is happening to me is real."

Simon wasn't done talking yet, but he forgot what he was going to say when he heard a branch snap from somewhere to the left of them. But there was no monster or gigantic animal emerging from the trees; there was just a boy with yellow hair who looked vaguely familiar to him.

When the boy saw them, he asked, "Do you know where Eclipse is? I can't find him."

"Eclipse?" Simon gasped. But if he knew Eclipse, that meant that he must be-

"I'm Raenef. Nice to meet you." The boy said, confirming Simon's suspicions.

"Looking at Raenef, Simon said, "We haven't seen him, but we can at least help you look." He stared at Zack until he said he would too.

"Well, we know what we're doing now." Simon said to Zack. "Let's go find a demon!"

**END CHAPTER**

TRI: *stretches* Done! I think I'll read some more Negima! now.

R&R


End file.
